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Chapter 641 - The end of a long day
🕑 Added 2023-04-14 13:00:04 +0000 UTCThe group spent about 20 minutes discussing the possibility of Multrak being a vampire or not. Thanks to Blue and Milo, no one got too hung up on what the elder actually did to get sent here. Not to say that any of them forgot, but they were trying to take the man at face value. Despite the tricky initial interaction, he never actually did anything to harm them. As a matter of fact, he was even being polite and helpful. Grilat also seemed a nice guy, even if, according to what they had just learned, he was likely a killer. Still, they continued talking for some time, and eventually, another person appeared to call them for dinner.
The meals in the village were always made for everyone. They did that to both make sure that everybody had their share and make sure that everybody was in good shape. Living in this place wasn't easy, and monsters would attack the village with a certain frequency. Because of that, everyone was required to be in peak condition at all times. Now that the elder had already accepted them, everyone else started treating Hera and her friends pretty well. They would greet them, ask questions about who they were, and even offer some food or prepare their plates for them. They were all very nice, and if it weren't for the fact that they knew those people were sent to a maximum security prison, there would be no reason not to enjoy this place.
"Oh, by the way, Multrak. How do you share your power with others? I don't think you ever mentioned that," Shane asked during their meal.
"I have to make them touch my blood. Usually, I make a few small darts and throw them at people. It's not something to damage anyone, so even if I hit your eye or something, it won't do anything," Multrak explained.
"That's the biggest lie you've ever told," the cook of the day said as he sat down with his second serving, "If he tries to throw one of those things in your eyes, run. It hurts like a bitch."
"Did you do that to us? I remember feeling a prick on my neck before we managed to push the Boulder of Vine away," Alex asked.
"I did. Normally I ask before doing something like that, but we didn't have time. I needed you all just to push it away and let the Boulder live. Sorry about that," Multrak took another bite of his stake, "Speaking of things we can do. Why are all your eyes black?"
"Figure out a way not to answer that. Stall and give me a moment to think. I don't have an idea right now," Sammy quickly said.
"This has to do with the reason we got here. You said we don't have to tell you if we don't want to correct?" Bonnie quickly chimed in.
"That is correct, but… all of you? What? Were you a cult or something?" Multrak pressed.
"We are telling you, we don't want to say. So can we just drop it, or is that rule only applied when it's good for you?" Alex stared the elder down. A few people seemed upset about that, but others also joined in the stare, feeling that their leader was pushing too much.
"You are right. My apologies. You don't have to say. However, I still have the right to ask this. Is it something dangerous that could affect others in the village?"
"Say no. I don't know if the curse is capable of spreading to them since it's from a different time," Sammy said.
"You don't have to worry about that. This is something that can only affect us," Hera said with a smile, " but now I have a question for you, if I may," Multrak nodded, expecting a serious question, which he got, just not the type he was expecting, " where's the bathroom? All this wine is kind of going through me."
The elder chuckled and pointed to the left. Hera locked eyes with Sammy and gestured to the outhouse. The village didn't have private bathrooms, but at least they were already clean enough to worry about washing their hands and having a place to dispose of their waste. Hera walked inside the latrine and snapped her fingers, creating a soundproof bubble.
"Oh," she plugged her nose, " I wish I had a spell to make the smell go away. This is awful."
"Oh, yeah. You can say that again," Sammy put one of his flippers in front of his nose, "Can you talk quickly?"
"Sure. Did you notice anything weird? Anyone who seems to be related to the curse?"
"I can't say I have. I mean, I kind of imagined that it could be something to do with a legacy, but that blood one doesn't sound right," Sammy shook his head.
"Yeah. For a moment, I thought the whole giving you power thing could be it, but he has to touch you. The curse doesn't. The only part of it that makes a little bit of sense would be the growth, but even then, it sounds like a stretch," Hera nodded, and there was a pause before she continued, "Ok, I think that's all. Can you leave? I actually have to go."
"Oh, right. Sorry. Good luck. There is a stone to the right where you can wash your hands after," Sammy said quickly before jumping back to the table with the rest of the party.
Sometime later, when everybody was heading to their own houses, Grilat approached the group, "Listen. Usually, people who have just arrived are supposed to stay in the shacks. It's kind of like part of the sentence. Then, when they are free or they decide to live with someone else, they can go to one of the better houses. The thing is, we actually don't have a shack where you all can be together, and you seem like a tight bunch. And since two of you have legacies, we kind of agree to let you guys be a bit more comfortable. So you can choose to split up and take a few different shacks, or we can just give you a piece of land where you can make your own house like you did that stone thing back in the arena.
Everyone turned to Hera, who would be the one making the building, "I'm fine with making something. But is it okay if we change it later? I mean, I'm tired, and I don't know if I can make a good house now."
"Yeah, sure, you can change it later. Just don't make anything too fancy. You're still supposed to be serving a life sentence," Grilat nodded and gestured for the group to follow him.
He brought them to a place near the main gate where there was an open field that was being used as one of the training grounds. Then, he returned to the treehouse to gather some blankets, hammocks, and materials for a bed. Hera spent the next 30 minutes making the walls with her stone shape spell, resulting in a pretty serviceable house with four rooms and one main living room. It wasn't pretty by any means, and there was nothing that could be considered a luxury. At most would be a stone bench in the living room. Still, it seemed to be enough for now, and everybody would have a more or less decent night of rest. Grilat also helped make a wooden door, so everyone could go in and out of that house without Hera having to be the one to close and open the place.
Before actually going to bed, the party gathered in the living room, and Hera used her soundproof bubble to make sure no one could hear them.
As soon as the Empress snapped her fingers and confirmed the spell was active, Blue yelled, "Where the fuck are we!? What the hell is this place?"
"Are you ok?" Shane asked in confusion. Blue was the person who seemed the most comfortable out of all of them here.
"Of course, I'm not okay! We are surrounded by murderers and serial killers. What the hell are we doing here?" Blue gasped again.
"But you were talking with everyone without any problems. I couldn't even tell you were upset about anything," Alex said.
"Of course! I'm not the one who's going to upset a cannibal! I don't want to be his dinner. So, yeah, I was friendly. I did my very best to be as supportive and positive as I could, but I'm freaking out here."
"I mean, that's a very fair point. Usually, small things trigger people who go to those extremes. Being more friendly might actually help us," Adriel nodded.
"I don't know. I don't think they would do anything. It seems like we're not dealing with Psychopaths, just people who have grudges. I was talking to a guy who massacred an entire gang for revenge after they killed his wife. He's still technically a serial killer, I guess, but I can't say I blame him," Shane sighed.
"And it seems like Multrak was sort of controlled by his legacy. The way he talked about it kind of made me think of substance abuse. That's usually not completely the person's fault," Alex turned to Blue.
"At the same time, we didn't talk with everybody. There might be some people who don't have morals," Hera added. Her comment surprised everyone, and they just stared at her for a while, "What?"
"Nothing, I just never expected you to say that. I think this is the first time where you're playing the cynical part," Helena joked.
"Well… yeah. I don't know. I just don't trust them. One of them is going to create the curse or make the curse happen. Or they will be directly related to the creation of the curse. I don't know who to trust."
"The curse could come from a monster like the drinking blood legacy," Bonnie reminded her.
"I don't think so. How would a monster make something that gets stronger the more you know about it? Unless it's a really intelligent monster, I don't see that happening," Hera explained.
"Well… maybe it was a monster who killed someone and got a legacy. I mean, what if they have a curse-like skill that can merge with a legacy?" Alex suggested.
"I don't know…." Hera sighed.
"Maybe there are some people here who can make the curse? I mean, we only know what Multrak can do. And sure, he says he is the only one here who has a legacy, but one, that could be a lie. And two, maybe someone else makes a legacy that creates the curse," Helena said.
"Can I ask a question?" Mylo had his hand raised.
"Sure, and you don't have to raise your hand," Shane shook her head.
"Oh, sorry. I couldn't find a moment to join the conversation. Anyway, why are we saying that someone will make this? Can people even make a curse like that?" Mylo asked.
"I don't know…." Bonnie looked down.
"I think that sums up the problem," Sammy added, "We just don't know anything. Sure, maybe a person created the curse, maybe it was a monster, maybe it was some weird thing the system did, maybe it wasn't anything like that, and we are about to find something even more strange happening here. The bottom line is there are too many variables, and we don't know anything about anything."
"Yeah, we need more information. Let's try to get some tomorrow. Maybe I can have Nimbus and Lurize walking around, pretending to be robots to see if they can figure anything out," Hera turned to her titled blades.
"We can do that," Lurize nodded.
"The main issue is that we can't be that far away from you. Then again, this village is not that big, so that might not be a problem," Nimbus rubbed his chin.
"We'll see how things go tomorrow. Multrak was saying something about having us hunt. But since we just completed the test, maybe we won't have to do it so soon. I don't know. He said he would explain it in the morning," Alex said.
"Yeah. Let's go to bed. Also, I was thinking about leaving Armory and Scythe out while we sleep. They can be on the lookout," Hera turned to her blades, which were now floating to her side.
Shane shook her head, "I don't think that's a good idea. You are trying to pretend that they are not part of your court. So if anyone was going to try something with us in the middle of the night, seeing them would be suspicious. Also, you have to send them away after you wake up, don't you?" Hera nodded in response, "Yeah, that would be a problem. If you summon one of them in front of someone else, they might start asking questions. And it's not like spells that let you put items in an extra dimension or in a pocket bag exist."
"Yeah, so I'll leave some of the blades out then. Nimbus, Lurize, can I ask the two of you? I'll give you some mana to spend the night. Not that you need to move far away from me, but maybe that can offset the debuff," Hera turned to her titled blades, who nodded and kneeled in front of her to receive the mana by kissing her hand. The Empress wasn't stingy and gave each of them 1 million points of mana and the Royal Quest to protect them during the night.
"Hera, can I ask you one more thing before we go to sleep?" Bonnie turned to the explorer.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Can you close the front door a bit? Not entirely, just enough so that no one would be able to open the door. I'm feeling paranoid."
"Like this?" Hera used the stone shape spell to reduce the opening on this side, and since the door opened inwards, it became impossible to open. If anything were to happen, people could still break the wood and leave, but that would make a lot of noise.
"Yeah. That's great. Thanks," Bonnie smiled.
"Actually, can you open it? I need to go to the bathroom," Mylo asked.
"Oh, me too," Blue nodded.
Hera rolled her eyes, "Fine," she lowered the stone barriers that she placed so they could leave, "If anyone else wants to go, you have 10 minutes. I'm tired, and after that, I'm closing the door. Either learn how to use this spell or be here before the curfew," she huffed.
The rest of the group glanced at each other, and all of them, with the exception of Bonnie, left the house. Hera just rubbed her eyes and asked for her blades to decide who would be the two who would be with Nimbus and Lurize. She wanted to have one of them in each room. In the end, for this night, it would be Ooze and Core. Maybe tomorrow, she would let another group be on the lookout, but today all she wanted was to sleep. Luckily, the party treated her threat seriously, and they were all back before the 10 minutes passed. And less than two minutes later, they were all sleeping in bed.
